Bishop: Meet Murrow's Ghost

Posted: Thursday, November 23, 2000

November is a special time for Americans. It's a time of tradition and a time for thankfulness. Sure, we've got elections and Thanksgiving, and all of their glamorous trappings. But November is special for another reason, as well.

Sam

Bishop

It's special for television.

That's right kids, and not just for your Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, your college football or your post-holiday dinner Christmas specials. More importantly, it's special for ratings. November is ''sweeps'' month for the networks, and boy did Christmas come early this year.

Perhaps you've heard of the ''sweeps,'' and while the origin of the name may be shrouded in mystery, its purpose is quite simple: to increase programming viewership in order to up advertising costs. Now, I know that's a bit blunt, and perhaps cynical, but, well, it's the truth. And for good reason, because while TV might be free to you and me (not including the cost of cable, which is another issue altogether), it costs the networks a whole lotta dough to keep that colossal content machine well oiled.

Of course, this isn't exactly news to you, for though you may have suspected Calista Flockhart was working for free, you had a feeling John Goodman was making enough to keep healthy.

But outside of the obvious, what's this system of sweeps and ratings all about?

Well, I am glad you asked, because today I'd like you to meet my new secret industry insider who's here to help fill in the blanks. A television producer for a Washington, D.C., network affiliate, and my own personal ''Deep Throat,'' please allow me to introduce ''Murrow's Ghost.''

Murrow's Ghost: Yeah, sure. Can we speed this along? I'm on my smoke break and this phone is in a public area.

SB: Umm, of course. Well, I'll just get started then...

MG: Please, by all means!

SB: OK! OK! So, what's the story behind the story, sweeps-wise?

MG: That's your question? Pretty weak. Look, here's some background, 'cause I'm guessing that's what you're interested in. Way back when, there were two major media research companies: Arbitron and Nielson. Both started in radio, but as television grew as a popular medium, both expanded into that arena. Over time, Nielson edged out Arbitron as the most relied-upon TV research source, leaving Arbitron to re-stake its claim in radio.

SB: Interesting. Now does that mean ...

MG: Please hold your questions! Initially Nielson enlisted a number of households in various national TV markets to keep a daily television-viewing journal. In exchange for a nominal fee, these randomly selected families and individuals were asked to complete this journal throughout the year in order to keep in good practice, though Nielson would collect a data sampling every few months. From this sampling, they hoped to track viewership on three main levels: rating, share and households using television, or H.U.T. levels.

Rating is measured by looking at what percentage of television viewing households are tuning in to a particular channel or program. So basically, this answers the question, ''Out of all of the households owning televisions in the country, approximately how many are watching 'Who's the Boss' on any given evening?''

Now, ''share'' & ''H.U.T. levels'' measure viewership a little differently. First off, H.U.T. levels measure exactly what you'd think: the number of households actually using their television set. So if 10 households own TVs, but at a particular time only six of them have their TVs on, your H.U.T. level is 60. Share, then, is the percentage of your H.U.T. level that is watching a particular channel. So if of the six televisions that are actually on, three of them are tuned-in to Fox's ''Caught on Tape: When Monkeys Attack,'' Fox's share for that particular program would be 50.

SB: So ...

MG: ''So'' what? I'm still rollin' dude. Now, like I mentioned previously, these samplings are taken from a few key months a year. They are, in order of decreasing importance, November, February, May and July. Why this order? Well, H.U.T. level plays a big part here, because considering that you have more TVs on during Prime Time vs. 6 a.m., the same logic applies seasonally as well. When the days are shorter and colder, you will tend to find more folks inside, and therefore more television sets on.

SB: So is this why the new TV season starts in the fall?

MG: Nothin' gets past you, does it? It is also why, when your favorite Prime-Time M.D. loses his good hand in an E.R. altercation with a medical-marijuana starved, Ginsu-wielding sous-chef, only to have it miraculously sewn back on by the renegade surgeon who left the show last season, but just ''happened by'' the hospital that day to pick up his last paycheck, well, there's an excellent chance it will happen in November. This kind of event is called ''stunting,'' and can really occur anytime during the year, but is more prevalent during ''sweeps'' months, and especially so during November.

It is interesting to note, though, that in most major TV markets Nielson now has metered households, which means those journals I mentioned were replaced by a mechanism that plugs right in to the family TVs and records viewing data in 15-minute increments. This means more accurate information can be easily collected year round vs. just during those key months. However, the ''sweeps'' have become a habit with the networks and an artificial way to boost viewership numbers in order to increase advertising rates.

SB: Very curious. So how do late breaking and drawn out mini-series like ''The Presidency and The Pregnant Chad'' affect the numbers during ''sweeps?''

MG: Wow, you're a clever one, aren't you? Big news items, like the never-ending presidential election, and last year's Elian Gonzales circus, usually mean good ratings for the national networks, but not so great for the local affiliates, except, of course, if you're in the Florida market. For example, it is difficult for a local morning news show to compete for share with a national program, like NBC's ''Today'' show, when it comes to the big news events. While affiliates usually have to rely on local ''experts'' for on-air commentary, the major networks can easily book someone more renowned and directly involved with the breaking news like, say, James Baker.

Look, I gotta scram. We've been at commercial for 15 minutes now, and people are starting to get nervous.

SB: Well, thanks again for your time and the lesson. Very informative, indeed.

MG: Dial tone.

SB: Hmm. OK then. See ya.

And I'll see y'all next week.

Sam Bishop, whose household has been the only one in Nielson ratings research to consistently have an H.U.T. level of 100 percent, can be reached at Sam_Bishop@yahoo.com.